Blood Language
by mightyminerva
Summary: Ginny always had a way with words, and now Harry's off finding Horcruxes, Neville is writing them down. Yes, I changed the title AGAIN. DARK, MATURE for a reason. NLGW, HPDM, PPNL
1. 1: Options

**Blood Language**

**(formally Ginny Was A Punk Rocker, the title is WIP)**

**A/N- First, PLEASE review and let me know what you think/if I should continue it. The whole thing is going to be the lost seventh year and how the DA generally kicked ass, sorry, arse (with some added romance). All characters are property of JKR, and half the plot is from the French 2004 film Lila Says.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Options**

**In which the stage is set and I nearly win at Wizard Chess.**

...

I kept every word she spoke to me that year on scraps of parchment. I kept them tucked into a folder under the mattress of my four-poster. Trying to make sense of them all is slowly driving me mad. And writing in the in-betweens only serves to bring her to the surface again. Who did I think I was? Who do I think I am, writing all of this down?

There was something catching in her voice the first time she spoke. The first time there was no one else around to hear. Because it wasn't as if I'd never heard her speak. Her, Ginny Weasley, chatting in the common room to Hermione or even the muttered _Owws _when I took her to the Yule Ball and stepped all over her toes.

She was just another witch and I was just another wizard. And then, in my Seventh year at Hogwarts we found ourselves alone.

Ginny was dancing on the balls of her feet while waiting outside the empty portrait of the Fat Lady. I thought I'd startled her, or embarrassed her. But then she to speak:

_Do you see me Neville? I have an angel's face. Everybody says so. See my eyes? They're so deep and oaken you'd give your own for them. See my hair? Apple-red. And my skin, so pale and fresh. My mum says it comes from way back, from five generations ago. None of my brothers have it; they have hair the color of carrots and the feel of straw. You know Ron? He says I'm so red I look like I'm on fire. Even the experts don't know why. I'm like a Firebolt in the middle of the junkyard. _

I don't know why Ginny is saying this to me, why she's up close to me in the corridor. Then she adds:

_Neville, want to see my pussy?_

Hogwarts is a second home, after Shady Grove where Gran's house is. She always says it should be called 'Stupified grove' because we never knew anything to grow there. All the houses are creaky and the grass is always more yellow than green, even in the spring. There is an old pine tree that stands tall in front of the house. When I was littler I thought it was what was keeping all the saplings away. Gran swears that when she goes out to town, she hears it cry. But she hears tears everywhere.

School is more cheerful. This year I have three friends. I'm not counting Harry, Hermione and Ron because no one's quite sure where they are or even if they're alive.

Luna is the friend I can tell anything. Talking to her is easy because as odd as I think I am, she's odder. But I haven't been able to see her because the Carrows give detentions if they notice students from different houses talking.

These days the common rooms are full. Colin, Seamus and I fill a corner of it, and even though it's hard to talk in the din, we plan.

Nothing works at Hogwarts, everything's fucked up. No prospect in the morning, none in the evening, none in between. As students, we learn nothing. All we do is make pretend and sit tight. I'm as useless as a chair on the ceiling. It's a life made up of tiny, useless bits.

Colin gets that. He's the one who everyone knew as the kid who used to be obsessed with Harry. By now he's lost his youth. Still has that baby blonde hair he always had, those lanky limbs he grew into. I'm not sure how to describe him. It's a matter of want, I guess.

We've all got that. Want, to the point of being able to give everything else up. When you think about it, it's that bit of personality that's given up when nothing else comes close to mattering. It's what happens when forfeit is on the table.

The three of us play wizard chess in the common room, waiting for bad news. There is no good news, not anymore. Seamus watches as I play with the black set and Colin the white.

_Want me to take you again, arsehole?_ Colin resets the checkered board for another round. I stare at the white chessmen that lie knocked over one another. We win and lose an equal number before I call it quits.

_Come on. _Colin waves for his chessmen to reset themselves. _One more game, you can't leave with a tie. I can take your sorry arse._

_Play Seamus. I can't handle anymore strategy tonight. We're going in circles. Can't we talk about something else?_

_What, like imagine He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named can't burst into the tower any minute and kill everyone? No point, is there?_

_Sure there is, _Seamus says. _I remember my Career Advice with McGonagall back in 5__th__. That was before—before he came out of hiding and I thought, you know. That I'd graduate with a few NEWTs and get a Ministry Job. A local one back in Ireland. _

We didn't know how to answer, so we didn't.

_What about you Neville?_ _McGonagall tell you you'd be brilliant at anything far, far away from potions?_

_Oh yeah. Something like that. It was very strange. She'd invited my Gran._

_..._

_Augusta, _Professor McGonagall had said with a tight nod.

_Minerva,_ Gran said stiffly back to her.

_Inviting guardians for Career Advice is not standard practice, but as nothing has come of our correspondence by owl- _But McGonagall was cut off by a _humph_ from Gran.

_I think your grandson is very talented._

_Yes. I keep telling him if he applies himself his marks will improve. It's in his blood. How far has his average fallen now?_

_Augusta, this is not a disciplinary meeting. I'm afraid Neville's average is largely the result of Professor Snape and other performance based subjects._

_Performance based? That's your way of saying he's not good with a wand, that he's not a proper wizard. Neville's not a squib, and I won't stand for him being accused of being one! _

_Surely, I meant no offence. Listen to me. Neville, it takes an hour's time to correct your Transfiguration essays, but I've made copies of them all. Did you write them yourself? I'd always assumed you'd had some help here and there from Miss Granger, but I've had words with her myself… You have quite a few misspellings, but a thing like that doesn't matter. Neville, what do you want to do in the future? I mean after the war, naturally. _

_I don't know. I've always been the best at Herbology, but I don't want to be stuck watching plants for the rest of my life._

_Well then it's high time you considered other options._

_And what sort of other options are there?_ Gran nearly shouted.

_Options outside the magical world, _And hereMcGonagall addressed me directly_. There is a school in London where I think you would excel. _

_To do what?_

_Famous writers teach there, they can help you in ways that Professors here cannot. I would be able to write a letter of recommendation if—_

Gran stood up then, her face turning red. _A writer? You're serious? After all his parents did, my Neville going to be a writer? I happen to think he's better than that. _

Gran stormed out of the office without another word. I was having trouble understanding that the last few minutes hadn't been hallucinated. I'd never thought about it before. A writer. But it would never happen. I would never be allowed to go and without Gran's support I could never afford a muggle school.

_The program is free, Longbottom. But each applicant must write a thirty page story. If they like it, you're in. It's as simple as that._

_..._

After I tell him what McGonagall had said, Colin turns a face.

_Teacher's pet. She wanted you to go to London?_

_You're calling __Neville__ a teacher's pet?_

_I could still go to London. After all this, obviously._

At the start of term McGonagall had slipped me a brochure with a note reminding me I'd never get to go if I didn't concentrate on my defensive spellwork.

_London? Bullshit! They haven't got anything that Hogwarts doesn't have. That cow wants something from you. I'm telling you. She thinks because we're the last few here tied to Harry that we're going to tie her down when the Death Eaters breech the last wall. That because we knew Fred and Georg we're gonna blow something up. Or maybe she's a closet Death Eater and we don't know it! _

Seamus finds this as mad as I do. _Professor McGonagall, who yesterday told Parkinson if she didn't magic her skirt back to a proper length this instant she'd have a little surprise in nine month's time? McGonagall's the one reason Hogwarts isn't a crater in the ground._

_Who knows—?_

_Shut up Colin!_

_What else!_

_She said I'm a good writer. _

_Longbottom wants to write! What grand dreams, while we all try to prove our blood status! Who cares if you've never in your life remembered the trick step on the East Staircase. You only got out of the Department of Mysteries alive because Potter dragged you!_

Colin looked to the floor._ Look Neville, I'm just trying to keep you on your guard. Whatever, I'm going to bed._

I told myself, I'm already a fuck-up. Why try? People are starting to look to me for what to do, but I'm not Harry. I'd get them tortured. It would be best for everyone if I just stayed in the background.

We're not about conquering the world. We're not the only ones trying to fight. We're looking for something to do and there isn't anything.

...

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**A/N: I'm starting some drawings of character images, check them out at my deviant art page, the url is pinkdiscodress [dot] deviantart [dot] com**


	2. 2: Battleaxes

**Chapter 2: Battleaxes **

******In which I see her fire.**

**...**

Of course when I wrote that Hogwarts is more cheerful, I meant that it isn't. Since the start of term it's been almost as if Snape as replaced the suits of armor with Dementors.

_What's gotten into that girl?_

Seamus answers Colin at dinner a few days later,_ Who?_

_Ginny Weasley, who else? She's always alone. And she never speaks, just stares off._

Seamus chews a radish as thoughtfully as radishes can be chewed._ She's got a right to be. Now that Harry's off, God knows where. And they all say her brother's got spattergroit but I don't believe that for all the gold in Gringotts. Not to mention Hermione was one of her best mates. _

Colin looks at her for longer than necessary. When he talks it's like he's whispering to her, or whatever Ginny he has in his head.

_Soon, you and I. We'll get married_, He tells us.

...

When I see her I stop breathing. There, in the sand pit on the edge of the lake, she spoke with a voice so sweet you'd believe in miracles.

_So?_

_So what?_

_My pussy. Don't you want to see it?_

Ginny Weasley, her uniform tight at her waist, kicked at the sand. What sort of joke is she playing?

_How much?_ I ask only to catch her off guard or scare her away, but she just smiles.

_Whatever you like._

_I'm broke._

_I know you are. So am I. If I wanted money I'd go elsewhere._

And she won't take her eyes off me. She looks so unashamed at her words she could be talking about Quidditch or spellwork.

_Why do you want to show it to me?_

Ginny shrugs and the movement of her shoulders kills me.

_Can I ask you something? _She shrugs again. Merlin_. You've been awfully quiet this year. When we all got back to Hogwarts, well, after everything I sort of expected you to be one of the loudest voices. And everyone's really confused with Harry gone. We all thought you'd have your shit together. Have your battle ax all sharpened and ready, you know?_

_I don't have a battle ax, Neville._

_News to me._

She almost laughs.

_When I listen to Alecto in class I get so angry, I can't stand it. I want to scream at her, curse her into oblivion- but I know that won't help. I smuggled back a bottle of Charlie's fire whiskey, in case. I had to break it out my first night back. I was drinking alone in my dormitory and I found this-_

Ginny hands me something from her pocket that's the size and shape of a gobstone. Whatever it was I could barely see it with the disillusionment charm that was placed on it.

_Fred and George,_ she explains. _It's an enhanced receiver for my wizards wireless. Fits in my ear so I can't hear what's going on around me and charmed so no one can hear the noise. No matter how loud it is. That first night I was still so angry. The whiskey didn't help. I just put them in, spun the dial to a random station._

_And who was on the radio?_

_The Buzzcocks. Even Fallen In Love. It's stupid, yeah. But when I just can't take it I turn up the volume and pretend._

_That's why you're ignoring everyone?_

_Some people aren't worth talking to._

_And me?_

_I told you, I just feel like it today._

_But not other days?_

_Depends._

_Why's that?_

_Cause you're not the only one._

_You mean Harry, and Dean, and—_

She frowns so I understand the topic is closed. Sitting down on the old tire swing that's on the edge of the sandpit Ginny looks at the ground.

_Take it or leave it, Nev._

Well, what would you do?

_Yes, I'd like to see it._

Her face lights up as she asks if I prefer a 'quickie' or a 'longie'

_A quickie I just lift my skirt, _Ginny explains._ A longie is on the swing._

_The swing is not long enough, _I tell her.

_You're such a pain! It's free and you're bitching?_

Ginny gets off the swing and walks past me towards the castle. Without turning back she says:

_The offer won't last. Don't come whining if others take it up._

_Okay then. The swing._

I must be half mad. The whole thing was game of chicken. She wasn't about to-

Ginny begins to swing on the tire swing, and as the wind touches her skirt it becomes more than obvious she doesn't have on anything underneath.

Her legs are long, and they swim through the air. Her feet almost touch me, spread apart. Then the swing swings, and she pulls them back, leaning forward so her red hair shines.

Some dam in me burst. Since Ginny, the ink in my quill has flowed easier. For once a piece of sky came down and didn't crush me.

For once I've got something that's different.

...

* * *

**A/N - keeping it short and sweet for now. youtube the buzzcock's song if you're not familiar, it's the best.**


	3. 3: Propaganda

**Chapter 3:**** Propaganda**

**In which I announce my stupidity and am lectured severely.**

**...**

**A/N- THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS BRUTALLY ANTI-MUGGLE PROPAGANDA. I DID NOT WRITE IT; I LIFTED IT FROM HITLER'S MEIN KAMPF BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO IMAGINE IT MYSELF.**

**...**

Alecto Carrow makes a point to stand before the headmaster's podium in the Great Hall to give her Muggle Studies lectures. Colin doesn't take that very well.

_Pissing on Old Dumpy's grave. That's what she's doing._

Ginny is farther along, her head down and parchment out for notes she won't take. Now that the Carrows have the lectures mandated, Seventh through Fifth years are together, Fourth with Third and First with Second years. Seamus said it was to show off how Pure and perfect the Slytherins are next to us Blood traitor brats. And it's working, especially on the younger students.

Alecto taps the podium with her wand for attention. The silence becomes grim:

_THERE are some truths, students, which are so obvious that for this very reason they are not recognized by ordinary wizards. These wizards are blind to such truisms and are astonished when it becomes clear what every wizard should know from birth to old age._

_Thus, you students wander about in the garden of the Magical World; imagining that you know practically everything and yet with few exceptions you pass blindly by one of the most patent principles of Magic: the inner segregation of all sentient creatures._

_Even the most superficial of observations reveals that Magic's restricted form of propagation is a rigid basic law. Creatures, Magical and Muggle both, recognize this and will mate only with a member of the same species. The grindylow seeks the grindylow, the hippopotamus the hippopotamus, the dragon the dragon, etc. Kneazles will not of their own volition seek out cats to mate with, and Dragons have never been known to interbreed with hippopotamuses. _

_Any crossing of two beings not at exactly the same Magical standing produces a medium between the level of the two parents. This means: the offspring will probably stand higher than the magically lower parent, but not as high as the higher one. If we look for an example—if this girl here, this young girl—stand up please!_

Carrow points her wand to Ginny, who stands up startled. Colin kicks me under the table, hissing _Weasley's gonna take her out!_

_This girl shows in her physical appearance many classic traits associated with Pureblood lines. Her long red hair, notice her figure, how proud she is of her fair features that she wears no make-up. What is your Surname?_

Ginny shook visibly as she answers:

_Weasley._

Carrow's head turned to the side, _Weasley. Of Noble blood but not as nobly raised. Perfect birth yet bad breeding. Lucky for you there is time for you to redeem yourself, especially one as handsome an example of birth as yourself._

Ginny sits down, her face madly clouded red.

_Because of this fact alone, Miss Weasley and others of our blood must dominate and not blend with the weaker, thus sacrificing our own greatness. Only the born weakling can view this as cruel, but he after all is weak, only a man!_

Colin scrawls on his parchment and passes it to me: _That girl needs a man who can stand up for her. I bet that's how Harry hooked her. I'm gonna be next._

Carrow continues,_ if this process of the strong winning over the weak were different, all further and higher development would cease and the opposite would occur. Let this be a warning: for if this was to happen, the whole work of higher breeding, over perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, might be ruined with one blow._

_Professor? _Parkinson simpered at Carrow's next pause, _Professor, how can you tell an example of good birth, beside lineage? I know I might, like be ignorant, but I would never have guessed that Weasley would be that example._

_Parkinson, you will raise your hand the next time you wish to speak out-of-turn. Although you have raised an excellent question there is no answer I can give. You have to have an eye for it, and __that__ only comes with fine breeding._

_Historical experience offers countless proofs of what I have been saying. It shows with terrifying clarity that in every mingling of Pureblood lines with that of Muggles or Mudbloods the result was the end of the cultured people. North America, whose population at the time of its settlement consisted of many promising Pureblood families, has mixed irrevocably with Muggles to avoid detection. But have they produced any Wizards who stand in comparison to the Dark Lord? Even lines that by chance interbred with indigenous Magical tribes or others of muddled Magical descent do not recognize their superiority over the weaker breeds. _

_By this one example, we can clearly and distinctly recognize the effect of interbreeding. The Pureblood inhabitants of the European continent, who for the better part have remained racially pure and unmixed, are now rising to be master of the continent; we will remain the master as long as we do not fall a victim to defilement of the blood. All great cultures of the past perished only because the originally creative race died out from blood poisoning._

_The ultimate cause of such a decline was their forgetting that Magic depends on Wizards and not conversely; hence that to preserve Magic the line of the Wizard who creates it must be preserved. Those who want to live as Wizards, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live as Wizards._

Parkinson's hand shoots into the air with a speed Hermione would have approved of.

_Professor, so, do mean that like, everyone, no matter how pure their birth was, or as perfect an example of birth they are- _she glared at Ginny_- that if they don't like, fight for their right to superiority they don't deserve their Magic? _

Ginny rises, her wand in her clenched fist, her face still red. _I DON'T-_

Carrow silences her with a flick of her own wand, and Ginny choked out noiseless words while Carrow explained, _SIT DOWN, Miss Weasley, and I will forgive you for speaking out of turn. To answer your, second question, Miss Parkinson, yes. As hard as it is to accept in certain cases, Mudbloods and Purebloods who do not wish to accept their superiority over Mugglekind do not wish to share our world, and so should not._

Ginny closes her eyes and her hands go to her ears and I know that in them are her enhanced receivers. She won't be able to see or hear another word.

_Everything we admire today-advancements in Healing, more potent potions or even charmed inventions- are only the creative product of the few Nobly bred and thus highly skilled Witches and Wizards. On them depends the existence of this whole Magical world. If they perish, the beauty of this earth will sink into the grave with them._

The Great Hall has become uncomfortable. The students seated at the Gryffindor table are motionless. Their heads are downcast, like Ginny, and even a pronouncement like Carrow's last sentence comes as no great shock.

I had thought this was all part of Snape's plan; to convert as many students as they could and to turn the rest into living Inferi. It's not as though she hadn't just said that those not with them might as well be dead. And that every worthwhile thing was created by Purebloods- all lies. Without raising my hand I stand up.

_What you just said, P-Professor, that "On them depends the existence of the Magical World". Well it's not – not true. Everyone knows I'm Pureblood. A-And I've also nearly failed almost every subject. My blood doesn't make me any better than Muggle-Borns. You m-might be new here, Professor, but I can promise you you'll see that I fail every exam I'm set this term._

A few Hufflepuffs are nervously grinning and a Ravenclaw boy puts down his quill for the first time all lecture. Parkinson looks about to hex me herself, but most of the Slytherins are looking to Carrow.

Carrow squints through her narrow set eyes at me, shouting to cover her surprise;_ 50 POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR! BECAUSE THIS is fact! That the harder fate is that which strikes the Mudblood who thinks they can overcome the truth and fights to help those weaker than themselves! Distress, misfortune, and diseases are the answer! For the Mudblood who misjudges and disregards the Magical laws actually forfeits the happiness that seemed destined to be his! He thwarts the triumphal march of Wizards and hence also progress of all Wizardkind! He remains, in consequence burdened with all the sensibility of man, in the animal realm of helpless misery!_

_..._

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**A/N- Sort of getting to a real plot. Review, and let me know what you think :) I don't bite.**


	4. 4: Hard

**Chapter 4:****Hard**

** How Dumbledore's Army was reborn.**

**...**

The weekend after the Halloween Feast I had been asked by Professor Sprout to hand deliver a cutting of Hellebore to Dogweed and Deathcap's Apothecary in Hogsmeade. Snape had approved it, grumbling that that's what the castle kept house-elves for.

Out of the window of the Apothecary I catch sight of something apple-red. I think of her before I step onto the street and realize that it's the sign outside Dervish & Banges.

_And how are you getting back to Hogwarts?_

_On my magic carpet,_ I answer.

It's Ginny.

She has her broom over her shoulder and she looks different. At first I think it must be because we're outside the castle, but it's not. Her brown eyes are thickly outlined in black and tied over her broom are what looks to be a new pair of thick dragon-hide boots.

_I can give you a ride_. Ginny nods to her broom. _I snuck out the common room window after I saw the new announcement. _

I tell her I must have left before it was posted, and she hands me a sheet of parchment.

…

**REGULATIONS AND ADDENDUMS CONCERNING THE SAFTEY AND EDUCATION OF HOGWARTS STUDENTS**

**HEADMASTER SNAPE, current as of NOV. 6, 1997**

(I) All mail will be approved by the Headmaster directly

(II) All hours that students are not in class or a designated and approved Club activity will be spent in the Common Rooms.

(III)Trips to Hogsmeade will be approved on a Student-by-Student basis.

(IV) All punishments will not be governed by the Heads of Houses but will be governed by Professor Amycus Carrow and approved by the Headmaster

(V) All Prefects and Head boys and girls must reapply for their duties to be renewed. Interviews will be conducted by Professor Alecto Carrow. These new Prefects and Heads will have dominion over all houses.

(VI) All Quidditch matches are to be refereed by Professor Amycus Carrow.

These are old news; I skip down to the last three items

(XXII) Professors will note all absent students and student behaviors and consult weekly with Professor Amycus Carrow.

(XXIII) Professors will note student achievement and consult weekly with Professor Amycus Carrow.

(XXIV) Penalties for not wearing the approved uniform for a student's blood status are automatic Level 3 detentions.

…

_What's a Level 3 detention?_

_I don't know. But I'm probably going to find out. I'm not putting up with this blood status uniform shit. Carrow says my features are noble; I'll cover it with make-up. That my hair is telling of purity? I'll cut it off. _

_Well it looks like you'll have company in detention. I mean if I fail my courses like I told Carrow I would._

_You did what?_

_Yeah, it wasn't very smart. _

Ginny cocks an eyebrow. _I don't know about that. Why did you say it?_

_Everyone gets so down when Carrow lectures. It was the only think I could think of to cheer people up. It was stupid, it didn't help anyone. _

I'm ace at that. Take the Halloween Feast. The Carrows had taken the Feast as an opportunity to announce that Pureblood students could no longer sit next to Muggle-borns and Mudbloods. Each house table had been cut into two. Now there was a wide gap running through the tables in the opposite direction, a much wider gap than there ever was separating the house tables.

I don't know what Harry would have done. But he wouldn't have sat down to eat at the Pureblood Gryffindor table, ignoring the other lifeless students because there was nothing in his power to do. Harry wouldn't stand for it.

Ginny shakes her head at me. _Let's get out of here._

_If you want._

She hands me her broom and I climb on, waiting for her to sit in front of me. Without knowing why, she starts to laugh.

_When was the last time you flew? If you're going to steer you need to put your feet in the stirrups. Here-_, Ginny bends over to place my feet correctly. She's far too close and her short skirt lifts just enough. Did this girl ever remember her knickers?

We take off, my feet on the stirrup part, my arms wrapped around her in order to hold the broom correctly. Her face rests against my chest and she leans into me as we gain air beneath us.

_Nev, when I sat down, I made sure my quim was right on the broomstick_. Ginny smiles up to me, still expecting me to be able to steer.

_With every bump of turbulence, imagine. It's like the sky is touching me. Men don't understand the movements of nature. It's different for women. We follow the moon, our periods and everything. We're like little planets. _

Do you see how she was? How I never asked for any of this? After all I don't know her. It's only the second time we've really been alone together.

_Ginny, there's something I need to ask you._

_Hmmm?_

_Harry and you. Are you still together?_

Ginny scowls at me. _Yes._

I could feel my stomach grow cold.

_But Neville, that's different. I'll tell you but you have to swear not to tell anyone, okay?_

_Okay._

_After I pieced it together that Harry is gay, that's what attracted me to him. I was dating Dean then. And yes, everyone knew I was a little in love with him, when I was ten and when he saved me from the Basilisk. But that was always silly. _

_It was the way he would look at Malfoy. I know they suspected him of being a Death Eater, but the way he knew, and hounded Malfoy around the castle—it was obvious to anyone who'd watched him for years that he wanted him. _

_So why did you want to date him?_

_We are similar, Harry and I. We both have tempers. And I owe him so much, my life, Ron's, my father's. I wanted to make him happy. And have you seen his muscles?_

_I think I'm lost, Ginny. You said you knew he was gay._

_And that he wanted Malfoy. And you know Draco, he's straight as an arrow. I wanted to lure them into a threesome. I know Draco would have, he drools talking to anyone with tits. Are you okay Neville?_

_Errr, yeah, I suppose-,_

_But it never happened. Harry is incredibly prudish; he doesn't like talking about anything close to that. We only made out a few times when I was so horny I threw myself at him. I don't think he's admitted to himself that he's gay. But he does have other things on this plate right now. _

Ginny waves her hair in the wind over my shoulder, trying to distract me as much as she possibly can.

_Do you have a hard-on?_

_Yes, _I answer honestly.

_It must be suffering in there. Do you want me to take it out?_

_You can't do that here, you can see the castle! _

_Want to bet? No one will notice, I promise. Let me try._

She reaches back, and curled into me she does what she said she was going to. With her gentle hands Ginny unzips my trousers and pulls out my cock.

_You don't mind if I use broomstick polish to, _she giggles_, polish your broomstick, do you? It works a treat._

_You seem to know what you're doing, _I tell her. She kisses me behind the ear in response.

Her hand wraps my cock, greased with a slick paste of polish. Her other arm hugs my waist, holding herself steady.

Her fingers work my flesh; up and down, up and down. Having no experience I had no expectations. Ginny knew this, or I tried to not worry that Ginny knew this. It made no difference. Her index finger and thumb forming a tight ring, she slid them slow along my shaft.

Breathing deep, _Ginny, Ginny, Ginny…_

All four of her fingers grasp my cock, moving faster than before. The attention didn't improve my ability to fly a broom. We veered to the left over the Forbidden forest then the right to over the lake before coming back near the castle. I I knew I didn't have the excuse of intimacy but I wanted to grab her and kiss her mouth. Even if the broom would fall out from under us.

_Ginny…_

I have been erect in her hand I don't know how long. And as lovely as she is I can no longer focus on her. The pressure around my groin is swelling. If she doesn't stop I'll implode. There will be no cock left to fondle.

_Nev, you're huffing like a champion brute at the height of Quidditch season._

I take breaths jealously.

_Get ready, _I tell her.

I turn the broom sharply. Mid-turn I come into air that passes us behind.

Ginny's brown eyes are so wide. She hadn't looked anywhere but to me the entire time she touched me. Hovering above the castle I shut my eyes and bend down to kiss her lips. Ginny grabs the broom instinctively when we begin to dive, leaning into me as we kiss.

We guide her broom quietly down to the grounds. She's still wrapped up into me, her head resting against me. Landing, she drops something into my pocket.

_Borrow them for awhile._ I pull her magically enhanced receivers out of my pocket and tell her I can't take them away from her.

_I'm sure you'll love them. See you. _Ginny grabs her broom and runs off toward the entrance to the Great Hall.

…

That evening I'm late to dinner. Colin and Seamus leave for the Great Hall while I'm trying and failing to finish Charms coursework. By the time I get there, I know being late was a mistake.

Ginny is there. Her new combat boots and the darks rings around her eyes stand out against the dullness of the students around her.

_Ginny, don't act like you don't know who I am! This school is small as fuck as it is! Alright then. I'm Colin Creevey, this is my mate, Seamus. We're both in Gryffindor, and I'm a Sixth year, like you. I'm just trying to ask you about your new look! Fuck me!_

She walks past him to her seat, averting her eyes.

Colin punches my shoulder in greeting. _Neville, hey, did you just see what I just saw? Ginny and I, a happy couple. _

_Didn't she just trash you?_

_Shut up! When a bird takes off like that it means she's hooked. Let's go, Seamus. We've finished here anyhow and having to sit over at the Mudblood table makes me sick. _

They leave, though the Great Hall is still full of students.

Meals in the Hall had become quieter since the Carrows. That was why the attention of half the student body turned to me, when Ginny shouted down the long Gryffindor table,

_LONGBOTTOM, THAT DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY REVIVAL MEETING YOU WERE TELLING ME ABOUT? WHEN IS IT AGAIN?_

_..._

* * *

**A/N - Ok, lotta action this chapter. Kind of satisfied with it right now, which is strange. Luna comes into the next chapter too :) so watch out for that.**


	5. 5: Bleeders

**Chapter 5: Bleeders **

**In which the Bleeders are named and I refuse to become a Photographer.**

…

_Does Weasley ever talk to either of you?_ Colin asks Seamus and me over our nightly rounds of Wizard Chess in the Gryffindor common room.

_Nope,_ Seamus says not looking up from his graphic novel. I shake my head as a vague answer.

_Me neither. Stuck up bitch! She looks right past you, doesn't see you. Like you don't exist. _Colin moves a white pawn . _Your turn. Does she talk to you?_

_Me? No._ I stare at the black-and-white squares of the chessboard.

_Are you sure?_

_Of course I'm sure._

Colin grimaces. _I keep trying, but whenever I get near, she takes off. Like I'm the fucking invisible man or some shit._

_Who's that?_ I ask

Never mind. It's your turn, you know.

I tell my rook to move, and when it refuses I prod him with my wand. _Listen, about Ginny—_

_I know, mate. Good Samaritan, "leave her alone" and all that. Don't bother._

_Listen to Neville, Colin. What about her being with Harry?_

_You think a hot arse like hers will stick to just one guy?_

_Suppose, _Seamus shrugs_. Have you seen how she's cut off her hair? It's buzzed in the back but a bit longer in the front, and with those eyes—all that girl needs is a dragon hide jacket and a motorbike. _

…

Word had spread about the resurgence of Dumbledore's Army. Students I didn't know were slipping notes into my bag. Some were curious about what the group did; others who knew of it from Umbridge's short reign wanted to know how I was planning on getting away with it.

I told them I couldn't make promises. I didn't have the details together yet. After a few days of this, I couldn't get around ambiguities anymore.

_It's going to be dangerous. It's training for the fight of your life. _

They all wanted in.

It had turned out that the special uniform Snape was now enforcing to distinguish between blood statuses was no new uniform at all. Students who had their blood status cleared by the Ministry were allowed to wear their house colors, as all the students had before. Only approved students could sit at the front tables in the Great Hall.

All the rest of us, and I was now included in this list after failing all three of this term's Muggle Studies exams, could only wear black and grey. We were supposed to be treated as 'guests' in own common rooms, and if caught referring to ourselves as Ravenclaws or Gryffindors, we received automatic level 1 detentions. We now _belonged_ to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, although it was made clear that now nobody would care where we belonged.

We were now the Bleeders. It was a term I'd first heard by a few of the second years, but it had been instantaneously adopted by all those of muddled blood status. It referred to Snape's segregation of the house tables, which placed all of us in the nosebleed section, hence, the Bleeders.

The only upside was that Snape and the Carrows didn't seem to care when Bleeders of different houses sat at different Bleeder house tables. Losing the right to sport our house colors made it difficult for newcomers like the Carrows to notice, and Snape walked with his nose so high in the air he couldn't see below the window ledges. As soon as we realized this I began to eat meals at with the Ravenclaw Bleeders.

Over the past few weeks I'd had my fair share of Colin.

_Neville, I'm so glad I can talk to you again. You have a fabulous pair of ears, you know. _This meant more time with Luna.

_I've really missed that. Most people wander off after listening to me for a minute or so. _Luna drabbled on, staring off at the cloudy ceiling. _But it's not your fault it's been hell. _ Luna doesn't touch her breakfast, but keeps her stream of chatter. And to be honest, I had missed our one-sided conversations.

_But I can't believe I forgot! Neville, tell me all about your plans for Dumbledore's Army. _

And that was how Luna arranged the first meeting of the DA. It would be at the end of the week, held in the Room of Requirement. Once the news spread, Friday came far too soon and I found myself with Luna and Ginny, preparing the Room for the first meeting.

_Isn't this just like old times? _ Luna has her wand out, sending streamers into the far corners of the room for decoration. I don't know what I should be doing.

What if it was just me and Ginny? She would ask me how I am. And call me 'Nev'.

_Fine,_ I would say. _I spilled my pumpkin juice twice at lunch today, I forgot to water my Mimbulus Mimbletonia, I had these nervous twinges and a couple of migraines, but otherwise I'm fine. Ginny, do you want to run away with me?_

_Yes. Where to?_

_I don't know. Anywhere. As long as we're together._

I step back to see all of Luna's handiwork. Lost in Ginny's imaginary words, I trip on the real Ginny, standing right behind me.

_Ginny, I'm so sorry I don't see-_

_No, its fine I'm alright. _Then, so I can barely hear she asks_, Nev, do I bother you?_

_Not at all. Why?_

_Well, maybe it's a bit too much. _She bites her lip, and I understand_. Am I coming on too strong for you?_

_No, it's okay._

_Well, I was thinking of something._

Luna hangs the last streamer and begins to conjure large glittery letters for a welcome banner. After each letter is placed she glances over at us, confusion in her arched brow.

_What? _I whisper.

_A treat. _Ginny makes no effort to lower her voice. This girl shakes me up and tosses me around. I'm lost in her hands.

_What are you thinking about?_

_Some guys put an idea into my head._ Luna is defiantly listening to us now. I try to keep my voice as concerned as a friend-of-a-friend should sound when spoken to like this.

_What guys?_

_Guys scouting around. _Ginny's steady brown eyes keep tracking me.

_Scouting for what? _

_Dirty pictures. _

_Luna,_ I gasp, _W-why don't you have a look out in the hall and see if you can find everyone? Maybe they couldn't figure out the trick door._

Luna frowns at neither of us, but nods and leaves the Room of Requirement. I sit down in a nearby chair for strength, but Ginny takes the opportunity to sit on my lap.

_A lot of amateurs take pictures these days. Pictures that move, and moan and cum. Plus, redheads are hot these days. I told the guys I was a virgin and wanted five hundred galleons. But they said they didn't care for virgins._

_And why would you tell them that?_

_I thought they wouldn't notice._

_Have you ever had pictures taken of yourself like that before? _

_I used to let Dean draw me nude, but he always instructed me to sit for him in Classical poses. And he never developed any of them to move. But no, never more than that._

_You're tempted to._

_It gives me ideas. _Ginny grins at me, but I don't get how she can be as matter-of-fact as she is.

_Like what?_

_Beyond getting fucked, Nev. I'd love to watch myself writhe under you or how I'd look wrapped around my own hands. Once I tried in front of a mirror. Bottom line: couldn't see and didn't enjoy it. Would you do me a favor?_

_Yeah, I guess._

_Could you photograph me while I touch myself?_

_No, I don't think I can._

_It's simple enough. All you need is a camera. You'll have to get both my face and quim in the frame though, so I know it's really me. When I watch it, I'll come harder._

_Why are you asking me this? Luna will be back here in a minute._

Ginny gets off my lap_, _but doesn't bother looking at the door. _It would be a treat for both of us._

_Who told you I'd like that?_

_I don't know. Whatever. I thought you would._

_If I don't will you ask someone else? Why do you keep on about this?_

_About what?_ Ginny's soft voice was gaining speed.

_You know._

_No, I don't._

_Cocks, quims, blow jobs and that!_

The door to the Room of Requirement opens and Luna enters, with Colin and his brother Dennis closely in toe. Behind her follows a gaggle of students I recognized from the Bleeder tables. Most of them are taking in the size of the room with cautious and guarded movements.

Ginny walks past me as she moves to greet the newcomers._ What else is there? _She hisses in my ear.

...

* * *

**A/N - :) thank you for the reviews! **

**I'm not too sure about the use of the word 'qium' I'm not british so I don't really know how common it is as slang. anyway, in this world it is because it's so much better than saying 'pussy'.**


	6. 6: Amateurs

**Chapter 6: Amateurs**

**In which Colin yells a lot and Luna curses me for being a twat. **

…

_I found this bunch around the corner by the portrait of Lady Corillea. I told them how to enter, so there shouldn't be a problem next time. _

_Thank you Luna. _

Thirty or so students from all different years stare at me expectantly_. Er…,_ I say, rubbing my palm on the back of my neck.

_You should get started then. Don't you have a speech or something, that's how __Harry__ used to start D.A. meetings._

The edge in Luna's voice was unexpected. When we'd planed this meeting we'd agreed to share responsibility between Luna, Ginny, and myself.

_A-Aright then… I'm glad all of you came. We've all seen a lot this term. How… bad it is, with Snape as Head and the Carrows running detentions. It's only going to get worse. It's just…. R-Really bad, isn't it?_

Everyone laughed. The nervousness in the new students seemed to calm. Colin started a slow clap that no one else joined.

_Now that that's out of the way, _Colin smirked,_ let's talk strategy. What we need is a castle-wide walk-out, to show Snape just who we are who he's dealing with. They can't teach us this bullshit!_

The new Dumbledore's Army shifted uneasily.

_Luna and I'd actually thought we'd start out with spellwork. Get everyone on the same page._

I didn't mention how the Bleeders were nowhere near ready for his plan, or any sort of resistance effort. They had no confidence, and I was supposed to be one to give it to them? We'd have to start with simple spells and hope to Merlin I could still do them myself.

Ginny had equipped the Room of Requirement with a round table and chairs, around which all the D.A. was now seated. She had called the table cliché, but the Arthurian effect it had on the D.A. lent a sense of purpose. Even Colin seemed to settle down once we were all seated and Ginny, Luna and myself began to talk about wandwork.

At Luna's suggestion we even began to demonstrate a few of the techniques. Ginny, being adept with wrist movements and a few other tricks, has everyone showering the room with sparks of their house colors. To those of us in grey uniforms, it was a small happiness.

I should have realized sooner that as Luna and I stood ten paces apart something was off. She always was the odd one, the lonely one, and so normally there was no need to worry about her.

_So, as I will disarm Luna on the count of three, being careful to clear my mind of bitter thoughts as we discussed. _

_1-2-3-_

_Expellia_- But I stop short when I hear the incantation from Luna;

_Petrificus Totalus!_

I'd heard that spell before. It didn't bring pleasant memories, as Luna knew well. The same as when I was a first year, the curse struck my chest and my limbs go tense and straight. Unable to move or correct my balance, I fall forwards, hitting the carpeted floor. If I had a nose as long as Ron's it would have broken.

I hear Colin's bemused laugh and a few others follow suit. It was infinitely more embarrassing than it had been when Hermione had cast it to prevent me stopping them retrieve the Sorcerer's Stone. How did this mean I would be able to get any sort of point across? How could they respect me?

To add to the humiliation Luna was beginning to sob over me. She hadn't thought to cast the counter-curse to her Full Body-Bind, instead her tears were bringing the D.A. into more cautious laughter. Luna herself, between, sniffs, began to giggle.

_Neville, I didn't mean to hurt you! I thought you were going to disarm me!_

Someone unbound me to the curse and after much rambling on my part the meeting was over. We would be meeting every few days and the three of us would be available for extra practice whenever we could schedule it.

Luna, on her way out, hugged me.

_Neville, I'm sorry. I saw your face when I cast that curse. I meant to cast it, I apologize for that. You and Ginny have been my only friends. It would be horrible to lose both of you at once. _

She let go and left the room quicker than I could think of an answer. To be honest, I was distracted from what she was telling me by Colin. He had cornered Ginny, who was collecting her spellbooks.

_Hey don't I know you, baby Weasley? Wanna hang out with me tonight? And wake up with me? I'll eat your knickers!_

She summons the last of her books from across the room, stuffs something invisible in her ear, and storms into the hall. Colin and I both follow steps behind her.

_Want me to walk you back to the common room?_ Colin taps her on the shoulder.

_She doesn't need you to do that._

Colin continues to follow Ginny, leaving me awkwardly trailing after Colin.

_You know that walk-out I was talking about earlier? Why don't you help me organize it? I know its short now, but you still have the most beautiful color hair. You could be my muse, sugar tits. _

_No_, Ginny says picking up her pace.

_No? Why not?_

_I don't want to._

_No problem. We'll do something else. Something to really rile up the Carrows. And Snape. Oi-, _he says waving a hand when she continues to ignore him, _I'm talking to you._

_She doesn't want to talk to us_, I tell him.

_Shut the hell up!_

_What is it Ginny, do you have a problem? Are you deaf or am I not good enough?_

_Let her go, Colin. It's not worth it. _I put a hand on Colin and he stops short.

_Bye Neville_, Ginny waves to me as she runs up a flight of stairs, and Colin goes dumb-faced. The staircase begins to pivot on its axis, meaning we won't be able to follow the way Ginny had taken to the portrait hole.

Colin turns on the spot.

'_Bye Neville?' What do you think I am? What the fuck is that?_

_What what?_

_Watwat! What are you a fucking duck? Why'd you fuck me like that? You've been talking to her behind my back?_

_We were there setting up. She's Luna's best friend and so she's helping us with the D.A. Because she knows her shit Colin, not because I'm trying to talk to her behind your back._

_What did you talk about?_

_Nothing. Spell stuff._

_You think I'm stupid? How long have you been fucking?_

_This isn't fucking Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, Wizardy, and Sexual Exploration. You're paranoid. You don't like that I got stuck leading D.A., and you're jealous. You know I don't want to lead it, Colin. Take it if it'll make you happy._

_Girls like that aren't best friends with girls like Luna. If they're so tight, why don't I see her at the Bleeder tables with you two? She's worming her way to the top because she's a pureblood little whore. I say 'Hi' to her; she ignores me, but teases me with her head-fuck mind games!_

_If you looked as good you'd do the same. And the last time I checked, ignoring you isn't a mind game. She wants you to step the fuck off. _

Colin takes a deep breath and his hand clenches his wand as he tries not to retaliate.

_You've been acting really weird lately, you know that?_

_..._

* * *

**A/N - thanks for to anyone who has put up with my fic and read this far :) you guys make my day. **


	7. 7: Tease

**Chapter 7: Tease**

**In which Ginny explains about the Italians.**

…

I keep reading over the notes I'd taken that year. If I just threw these rolls of parchment onto the fire no one would ever know the way she talked. Every witch and wizard knows how this story ends: Harry Potter kills Voldemort and lives happily ever after with his blushing bride.

Does anyone need to know the way it happened? Anyway, that's what I should do. Burn it all.

Of course if I did I wouldn't be able to remember every word she said to me. Forgive me Ginny, for not being able to do this just yet. And for what I'm compiling all of this for.

Now that the war is over and won, my place in the Wizarding World is undefined. I can't keep pretending I have a skill worth two knuts. When I send this to the Writer's Academy McGonagall badgers me about, that can finally change.

…

Colin had taken all control of organizing Dumbledore's Army after he blew up in the corridor outside the Room of Requirement. Luna was upset over this for a day but recovered quickly. There were still plans to be made, after all. And while not leading the efforts, I wasn't going anywhere during meetings either.

As soon as it was known Colin was in charge, he set the date for his walk-out of Carrow's Muggle Studies to be in a week's time. Ginny, who had startled everyone by turning up to the meeting with her short hair dyed bright orange, told Colin she was in.

_The only way we can make this work is with numbers. So I'll walk out with you on Tuesday._

The rest of the D.A. was hardly as supportive. But it wasn't in my hands any longer. Without the D.A. weighing so heavily on my free time, I'm able to help Professor Sprout in the greenhouses more often.

She even gave me a key to Greenhouse 5, to make sure the Hellebore I'd brought her from Hogsmeade was being pruned on a regular basis. I'm not sure what I'll do when she asks for the key back, because I might have maybe misplaced it.

I'm able to break into the greenhouse through a broken panel on its far side when I visit on Saturday morning. Immediately I can hear that Ginny is hiding somewhere, because she's left her Wizards Wireless playing.

_Ginny? _

_Beat on the Brat. Beat on the Brat. Beat on the Brat with a Baseball Bat, Oh Yeah, Oh-oh._

No one else would be listening to the Ramones.

_Neville? Is that you?_ Ginny peaks out from behind a potted fern.

_Yeah it's me. What are you doing here?_

_I found a key labeled Greenhouse 5 outside the Charms classroom. _She points to the corner where her wireless, a towel, and what looks like a bottle of suntan lotion are. _I was trying to get a tan. Carrow is always talking about how noble my skin is, and it creeps me out. _

_But it's almost December. You'd never tan, even in the greenhouses._

_I know. But all the tanning spells turn my skin orange. _Ginny resumes her place on the towel, lying with her stomach to the ground. Now that the fern isn't covering her anymore, I can see how she's barely dressed in cotton shorts that end at the tops of her thighs and hug her mid-hip.

_It would match your hair._

_Ha-ha,_ she says rather than laughing. _I did that for the Carrows too. And it's a little ironic, to dye your hair unnaturally orange, given my brother's hair color. _Her top also covers little. It looks like an undershirt she had trimmed most of the bottom off, but hadn't done it perfectly even.

_Oh. _I find the cutting of Hellebore without difficulty and begin to examine it._ I've got the enhanced receivers you lent me. Thanks for that. _

_Keep it, the twins already sent me another pair. You can sit down. Take your sweater off if you want, it's warm enough. You have olive skin. _

I look down to my own forearms, and resist her urging to take off my own shirt._ Olive what?_

_Skin. Like olive oil. Like they have around the Mediterranean. _

_You like olive oil skin?_

_Yes I do. Would you mind putting some lotion on me?_

She hands me her bottle and I begin to smooth the lotion onto the small of her back, her shoulders. My hands slip under the back of her shirt, and find no bra strap. How easy would it be to reach around under that undershirt and take hold of her breasts? Would she stop me?

_Like that? _She nods._ Now can you do me a favor?_ I ask her, my hands still under the back of her shirt, undecided.

_Please stop trying to change how you look. No matter what you do to yourself you're still gorgeous underneath, and the Carrows can see that as well as I can._

_Are you saying I should go back to normal?_

_No. I think a lot of the students look up to you because of what you've done. Just promise me you won't set yourself on fire in protest or anything, okay? _

She doesn't answer. I want to hold her, all of her in my arms. Hand her back the bottle and return to the cutting of Hellebore.

_I have an idea for the D.A., _she tells me.

_Ginny, you know Colin's been organizing things for the past few days. Shouldn't you ask him?_

_Don't be silly, Nev. _

_What do you mean?_

_We all know who's really in charge. No matter what Colin does. _

_Oh. _I hadn't known that everyone was taking Colin's efforts as seriously as that.

_I want to start a graffiti campaign. I can paint DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY on the wall. All I have to do is cast the same spell I used on my hair and no one will be able to remove it. McGonagall, maybe. _

I put down the Hellebore and consider what she'd said. _And Snape would have no way of knowing it was you doing it unless he caught you red-handed._

_Yeah. The only thing is it lets Snape know the D.A. is back. _

_They're going to find out eventually. Colin plans on announcing it at the walk-out. _

_I'd forgotten about his walk-out. I shouldn't have said I'd do it_. Ginny stretches, arching her back and resting on her elbows.

_I haven't. It's going to be a disaster. But this graffiti thing, I think it could help. Almost like how you're dressing now, but it wouldn't be all you. Give them a bit of hope._

_Hope is a powerful thing. _

_It would be a reminder to everyone that there is an underground movement. Something they can be a part of quietly, instead of how the walk-out will let everyone and the Carrows know just who we are. _

Ginny grins at me. _This is why you're really leading Dumbledore's Army, Nev. Because you're amazing. _

She picks up a book that had been next to her towel. The cover was in a different language, but from my distance I couldn't tell Ancient Runes from English.

It's in Italian, she says when she sees me looking

_Can you speak Italian?_

_No. It's mostly pictures. Have you ever heard of the ruins of Pompeii?_

_No._

_They're beautifully romantic. They've the most graphic paintings, you wouldn't believe. _

_What were you doing in Italy?_

_I spent the summer._

_Did you like it?_

_There was this boy, a muggle. He used to work moving the rubble for the muggle archeologists. Imagine, all he would do all day long was push rocks half his size. One day he brought me breakfast on a tray, with grapes still warm from the vine. He snuck it right up the ruins._

_And then? _

_Then he came in._

_And then?_

_Then we ate._

_And then?_

_Neville… Ever been laid in an Italian ruin?_

_When would I have done that?_

_She nodes. The Romans painted frescos. Of themselves, I think. Naked as the day they were born, fucking. The pictures don't move, of course, but the people making love are bent into all kinds of positions. It's like the Kama Sutra, but life-sized, all around you._

_They painted orgies, man-on-man, and… I wish you could see it. Being there with someone… It's like you're a part of it and can be every bit as inventive as they were. _

_You met a lot of Italians?_

_Yes._

_And they like the English?_

_They ask fewer questions. Have you finished with your plant? Lie down if you want._

When she sits up I can see her nipples defined through the thin cloth of her undershirt. I have a seat next to her on the towel.

_Ginny?_

_Hmmm?_

_You saw what happened at the first D.A. meeting. How Luna cursed me with the Full Body-Bind. She told me she did it because she didn't want to lose both of us. Have you said anything to her about us?_

_No. I haven't told a soul._

_And she knows? _I ask.

Ginny turns around and sits on top of me so her legs straddle my waist. Her hands reach for mine._ About this? _Ginny's shorts are just cotton and I've never known her to wear knickers before.

_If she did know? _

_This is going to make me sound stupid. _Who besides myself would be able to ask this when they had Ginny Weasley a few inches from the sack?

_Has Luna ever liked me?_

_Like 'liked you' or just plain old liked you? _

_The first one._

Ginny plays with a bit of my hair and avoids my eyes. _Oh, Luna has been wet for you for ages._

_WHAT?_

_How could she not be? You've got the most adorable chestnut mop of curls. You have brown eyes that are always shining, fingers that deftly handle the most fragile of plants, and a heart the size of a dragon's. _

_Really?_

_Why? Do you fancy her?_

_I-errr.. No. I don't know-, _confused, I don't know what to tell her. I don't fancy Luna, I never had, and how could she ask me that while sitting practically on my cock?

Ginny comes a moment closer and kisses me on the mouth, her lips closed but warm from the sun through the greenhouse roof.

_I'm kidding. _She laughs,_ I'm sorry, you're just so lovely when you're flustered. Of course Luna doesn't like you like you. _

_Huh?_

_Didn't you know about her pen friend in Norway? She hasn't mentioned Rolf?_

_I don't think she has, but she does talk an awful lot._

_I help her write her letters sometimes. Now that all letters coming and going are being read by Snape, Luna's had to get creative with how she phrases things._

_Like the resistance efforts?_

_More like, instead of:_

"_I want you to pin me down by the hips. Grab my arse for all it's worth and when we kiss…When we kiss I'll bite onto your lip so you can't get away."_

I would rewrite as:

"_Don't be afraid to take a firm hand, holding the imp around the hips. If it writhes, hold if from behind. If done improperly, when you administer the draught the specimen will clamp down on your finger with its razor teeth and sucker you with its venomous saliva." _

I can rack my brain trying to remember how I felt then. Her voice, her hair, her breathing as if she were about to faint. I didn't know whether I should have gotten angry or whether people are supposed to talk like she did.

I have no story to tell her.

...

* * *

**A/N- I changed the title again. I think I'm going to stick with this one, lemme know what you think :) **


	8. 8: Level 3

**Chapter 8: Level 3**

**How Colin and I brought the Unforgivable Curses back to Hogwarts.**

**...**

**A/N- THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS BRUTALLY ANTI-MUGGLE PROPAGANDA. I DID NOT WRITE IT; MERELY EDITED IT. I LIFTED IT FROM HITLER'S MEIN KAMPF BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO IMAGINE IT MYSELF.**

**...**

I am met with Colin's smug face the morning of Tuesday of the 16th of December, 1997. Seamus, Luna, and I sit down to our oatmeal, avoiding each other's eye. Colin doesn't eat, but briefs us for the millionth time on the walk-out. Only the three of us and Ginny had agreed to stand with him in front of Alecto Carrow within the hour, but he's determined our example will be the thing to set every student proudly alongside us.

I put down my spoon, blinded for a moment in my left eye. The ceiling of the Great Hall is full of rain clouds, and the Hall is still mostly empty.

Pansy Parkinson, standing in front of the staff table had just finished adjusting her gleaming new Head Girl badge. Colin moans on, but their voices carry over his.

_Miss Parkinson? _Carrow hesitated. _I can't imagine how you can continue to contrive so many questions on a subject where there is nothing to debate. _

_I only wish to learn as much from you as possible, Professor. Your expertise-_

_Enough, Parkinson. I have told you time and again that only fools respond to flattery when it comes from those that are beneath them. You memorize but do not understand. And put your quill and parchment away you look as keen as a house-elf._

When the plates and silverware had all disappeared and the younger students left for their morning classes, Carrow rises, taking her place behind Dumbledore's podium. She had a habit of resting two fingers heavily on her temple and squinting out at the students seated far away at the Bleeder tables as she spoke.

_We will begin class today by examining,_ she glares through her wide set eyes, _the place Muggles and those of lowly birth have taken in the Magical World thus far. While this subject is inherently unworthy of spending the time to clarify, I see it as a necessary rectification. Many of you have been sorely misguided. _

_Children, those I have mentioned have always been and will always be for no greater purpose than the advancement of Magical Peoples. If this were not so, the Wizarding Race would never have been able to take his first steps toward his future endowment; just as without the help of various suitable beasts which he knew how to tame, he would not have arrived at the advanced stage which is now gradually permitting him to do without these beasts. _

_For thousands of years Dragons, Dementors, Giants, House Elves, even Goblins have served Wizards in their rightful place help him lay the foundations of a development which now, in consequence of certain Dark Arts being pioneered by Great Wizards, are causing these beasts to be superfluous. In a few years these beasts' activities will no longer have a place, but without their previous collaboration Wizardkind might have had a difficulties getting where we is today._

_Thus, for the formation of higher Magic the existence of lower life forms was one of the most essential preconditions, since they alone were able to compensate for the lack of magical aids without which a higher development is not conceivable. It is certain that the first culture of magic was based less on the tamed beast than on the use of Muggles. Who else did Wizard Lords have till their lands? Who else did Wizard Kings send into battle? How else to subjugate them but with the promise of the existence of magic? For what else was the feudal religion of ritual and chastisement? _

_Only after the enslavement of subjected races did the same fate strike beasts, and not the other way around, _Carrow turns her glare back to Parkinson_. For first the awe-struck Muggle drew the plow-and only after we learned the superiority of the Ox and how to train the Dragon. Only pacifistic fools can regard this as a sign of human depravity, failing to realize that this development had to take place in order to reach the point where today these same Wizards now use the Magic they have learned to magic the grain to scythe itself! _

A quarter hour into the lecture that was still gaining steam, Colin Creevey stands from the back of the Bleeder tables.

Carrow squints over the edge of the podium down the long table, _Is there a question? Speak up now!_

Colin puffed his chest at the address. _Professor Carrow, I as well as many students alongside me, respectfully decline to waste our time twiddling our thumbs during your lectures. We represent-_

_And your Surname is?_

_Creevey. Colin Creevey, Professor. _

_Well, well we do have a rabble-rouser in our midst. I will be informing my brother Amycus of your Level 2 Detention and he will expect you in his office at 6 pm tonight. Now sit yourself down! I am feeling generous today._

_No. I'm leaving. And I'm not going alone. _

_You're detention, Creevey, will be a Level 3 infraction. And you will be seated. Or are you or anyone else for that matter, demented enough to wish to discover what is in store for students beyond Level 3?_

Colin's chin is held high at her threat. _What can you do to me? You've shut me in a closet for a day, you called that Level 1. You had Dennis haul a barrel of Merlin-knows-what up to the Astronomy tower and when he gets there Filch tells him to bring it back to Hagrid's cabin. He carried that bloody barrel back and forth six times, and you call that Level 2. And Neville here, he landed himself a Level 3 when he got a negative score on his last transfiguration exam, and that's rigging him upside down in Filch's old manacles for the night. _

_What pointless humiliation can there be beyond Level 3? _Colin grabs for his bag, the signal for all of us to rise with him and follow him out of the Great Hall.

_I have been lenient, Mr. Creevey. It would seem that up until this moment, the majority of the student body has been wise enough to welcome the imminent new regime._

Seamus and Luna remain still. Of all the stupid things I've done in my life- I rise to face Carrow alongside Colin and a second later Ginny does as well. The surrounding students are still as statues.

Carrow steps down from the lectern, and begins to walk toward the three of us at the back of the Hall.

_Sit down, Miss Weasley. The progress of Wizardkind is like the climbing of an endless ladder; it is impossible to climb higher without first taking the lower steps. Thus, the Wizard had to take the road to which reality directed him and not the one that would appeal to the imagination of a modern pacifist blood-traitor. _

She raises her wand to Colin's throat. _Crucio,_ she mutters.

Colin screams twice in agony before Carrow lowers her wand. The sound echoes horribly and there are tears in Colin's eyes.

Ginny moves toward them but someone by her holds her arm. _You can't do that!_

_Incorrect, Miss Weasley. You will find there is very little that I cannot do. I would advise you to sit down before don't have the choice._

Ginny's face contorts as Carrow's wand whiskes to her and she is forced to bend back onto the bench.

Colin is still on all fours, panting on the ground. Pansy and a few others at the front are smirking, but those of us in grey uniforms are terrified waiting her next move.

_Thus, the road WIzardkind had to take was clearly marked out. As a conqueror he subjected Muggles and regulated their practical activity under his command, according to his will and aims. But in directing them to a useful, though arduous activity, he not only spared the life of those he subjected; he gave them a fate that was better than their previous so-called 'freedom'! _

_As long as he ruthlessly upheld the master attitude, not only did he really remain master, but also the preserver and increaser of Magic. And children, what could be more noble?_

_Longbottom, why are you still standing? There is still three hours left in this class. _Carrow grins a mirthless grin_. Do you, perhaps, have a question?_

_Y-yes. I have a question. I'm just trying to understand where you fit. Into the whole, conqueror/subjugated thing. _

Carrow's mouth opens in anger and her brow furrows so tightly her eyes are reduced to dots. _Where __I__ fit, Longbottom?_

_H-how much Muggle blood do you and your brother have?_

_CRUCIO! _Carrow rages toward me. The curse hits and the memory of the last time, in the Department of Mysteries, is a thousand times lesser than the feeling now of acid boiling under my skin.

The curse is released, and her fizzled hair coming out of its bun. Her wand is still pointed to me as she reaches into her pocket and pulls from it a silver letter opener.

YOU WILL NOT ASK QUESTIONS YOU KNOW THE ANSWER TO. I HAVE PURE, RIGHTEOUS BLOOD IN MY VEINS, BETTER THAN ANY BLOOD TRAITOR COULD HOPE FOR!

With a stroke she slashes the silver instrument across my face, leaving a bleeding gash.

_SEE FOR YOURSELF! SEE FOR YOURSELF HOW DIRTY YOUR OWN BLOOD IS!_

I hold my cheek together with my wand hand and check that my tongue still works.

_Dumbledore's Army or bust, _I tell her_. _And I sit down to my notes.

If I thought the lecture was over then I was wrong. We were forced to endure the rest, Colin in uncontrollable tremors and Ginny catatonic from the waist down. Luna ripped the end of her tie by magic and handed it to me to use as a bandage.

...

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**A/N: again, thank you for the reviews. I haven't been able to get this chapter up as early as I wanted to, but Ive been a bit sidetracked by starting to do character art for the story. it's in progress and all I have right now is the lineart for Gin, Nev and Luna but Colin's in the short as well. He's probably just said something incredibly rude which is why ginny looks pissed and Neville has his "how am I constantly surprised by how much this guy is an arse" face on. **

**the url is pinkdiscodress [dot] deviantart [dot] com**


	9. 9: Mr Sad

**Chapter 9: Mr. Sad**

**What happens when you let Seamus near the rum.**

…

I step into the common room that night to find it full of people. The slow, heavy beat of music thuds from one corner and in another is a table hidden under multiple glass bottles of pumpkin-spiced rum.

Colin slaps me on the back before I have the chance to step into the crowd and disappear.

_All a good party needs is plenty of rum, I've always said. Don't look so glum, Mr. Sad! Meant to tell you earlier, __Nev__, but you know how it is._ Colin gives a sarcastic shake of the head.

The party is raging. Seamus and Ernie are involved in an aggressive round of exploding snap, both with bottles in their hands. A few surround them, shouting. Couples are pairing up on armchairs I won't look at the same way again and others are simply standing, drinking aimlessly. Both the Patil twins are involved in a kind of spin-the-bottle with sour expressions on their faces. Luna, her shirt completely unbuttoned is dancing to the dubstep on an end table while Justin Finch-Fletchley is spinning a muggle record by magic.

_Yeah. I know how it is. _

_Fuck yeah! I've had this planned for ages. Bit of a celebration thing, of course now there isn't all that much to celebrate. Got all fucked up, didn't it, __Nev__?_

Colin pushes a cup of something fizzing into my hand.

_Where is she, __Nev__?_

I scan the devastated common room. There could only one 'she' when it comes to Colin. I tell him the truth, that Weasley's still stuck to her bench in the Great Hall and that Carrow is considering it her detention. Colin gripes at the information and takes a swig from his cup.

_I need to get laid. Outta my way, Mr. Sad._

I watch as he heads toward the Patil twins. I had never seen a party this large in the common room. All of the bleeders from other houses had come.

Every so often Ernie or Dennis calls for me join them, but I refuse. Instead I'm sitting by the fire with Seamus's board of Wizard Chess unable to move any of the pieces. The fact is I'm only too aware that I'm the only one not completely trashed.

_There, there he is, Neville, no I'm fine I, I just need to sit down and, and where did my drink go? And no I swear to Merlin I'm fine! FINE, let me sit down! Neville…._

Seamus breathes a deep breath and tries to wipe the drunken tears from his face. He sits opposite the fire and refuses to look elsewhere. Finally, he rests the sockets of his eyes in the palms of his hands.

_I'm still? There's still water coming out isn't there? I didn't even know until they all started bloody giggling at me. _

Seamus sniffs, but refuses the tissue I offer.

_I said I'm fine, damn it. _His voice croaks. _Am I crying? When did I start crying? Where's my fucking_ _rum?_

A rustle starts in the huddle of students closest to the portrait hole, but the music is still banging on so loud I can't hear a thing over Seamus. From the commotion the crowd parts, and standing in the space is Parkinson. She silences the music.

Seamus sniffs. He's now closest to her as everyone else has seen fit to back away from the menacing Parkinson.

_PANSY,_ Seamus sobs, _WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE? You're always there, I see you all the time. You know who look like? You look like my cousin, back home. She spends all day with the sheep. _Seamus's blood-shot eyes give away the fact that he's obviously drunk off his arse. Pansy for her part snarls, her dimples twinkling in excitement.

_PARKINSON, CAN'T YOU SEE HOW I LOVE YOU?_

Pansy looks down at the dried tears on Seamus's face. _I'd like to make you cry, you KNUT-BRAINED, GOAT'S ARSED, BASTARD CREAMPUFF._

She kicks Seamus away from her, and hexes erupt from her wand in all directions. Never having a Defense Class with the Slytherins, I had never before seen Pansy's hexes. Her spell work is far from genius, but she makes up for it in sheer volume.

_Gryffindor Scum! Mudblood cunts!_ Pansy screeches in between curses.

In fact, a majority of the sparks and cracks are just that; and the rest more often than not miss their intended target and ricochet until they make contact. To the drunken Bleeders, the effect causes a chaos that last year I would have paid to see.

The drinks table is overturned with gusto and broken glass scatters onto the carpet. Bodies press together in a mob to reach either of the spiral staircases, but the girls' staircase keeps turning into a slide. Ernie pushes into my back, forcing me to clobber up the boy's stair into Dennis, who keeps tripping over his own feet.

I open the door to the Seventh year's dormitory expecting it to be empty. Seamus and I are the only seventh year Gryffindor boys at Hogwarts.

I'm wrong. Hannah Abbot, in nothing but her knickers and a pale yellow bra the same color as her pigtails sits on the edge of what was Ron's bed. Hearing the door open, Colin appears from behind the four-poster's curtains.

_I hopve you don't mind we ended up here._ Colin keeps trying to button his shirt, but can't manage to get them to line up, and gives up.

_Er, no. I'll just be going then—_I tell them

_Don't be stupid. S'your turn now. _

_You're not serious?_

_I could only getther here after I promis'd her she could wait for you here. O'course that was quite afew drinks ago._

Hannah's head droops to her shoulder and looks at me dazedly.

_Colin, she's about to pass out. _

_Oh, oh you don't mind, do you Hannah? _

Hannah arches her back, stretching.

_What do you think, __Nev__? _Colin is a good half foot taller than me, although skinnier and without any muscle. Could I take him if he tried muggle dueling?

_I think you're trashed. And it's not an improvement. _I pick up Hannah's shirt from the ground and hand it to her. She takes it, and whispers to me.

_Don't go. Please. _There is a strange absence of alcohol on her breath. Even as I begin to put the pieces of what had happened in place, Hannah reaches out to my fly, trying unsuccessfully to unzip it. I take the instinctive step backwards, and Colin laughs outright.

_Tell us something. Are youa fag? Anif you are, it's okay. Just say it._

_Alright then. I'm a fag. I just can't hide it like you do. _But Colin remains defiant and his face contorts in anger.

_You din't let the lovely Hannah here give you a blowie, you smell nice, yur Bleeder tie is always so damn straight. Yur polite. And yur good to yur gran although she gives you shit. Add it up._ Colin points a drunken finger at me. _You. Are. A. Fag._

_What do you want me to tell you?_

_I want you to tell me about your limp dick. Because there's only two explanations. Either Mr. Sad is a faggity faggot, or he got laid this morning. Right, __Nev__? _

Colin grabs the collar of my shirt. _Yur fucking the dye-job. _

The coldness in his voice hits me harder than the punch he's longing to throw to my gut. I can't put the two together, that he's really calling Ginny Weasley, the most beautiful witch alive, the dye-job.

_Let go of me._

Colin lets go, but not without a jerk for good measure. I raise my wand, pointing it at both Hannah and Colin.

_Get out. I'm only going to say it once. The pair of you._

Hannah darts from the room, and after stumbling over his first steps, Colin follows.

_..._

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**A/N - next up~ ****How the Sword of Gryffindor is stolen. Briefly.**


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